As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Some information handling systems may boot from a connected device, such as an external data storage device, optical reader, network server, or the like. For example, servers are often connected to one or more external data storage devices via a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) or Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) data connection. In particular, some information handling systems are configured for boot from iSCSI offload using a Host Bus Adapter (HBA). Typically, systems have to go through a process of booting through the HBA interface before booting the installation media in the Basic Input Outpus System (BIOS) post. The BIOS is commonly initial code which gives environment to boot the Operating System (OS). Systems often boot from an iSCSI device in Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) mode.
In an ordinary system, the boot from external media process includes the system receiving power and initializing the BIOS. Next, the HBA is configured in the system BIOS. After the system BIOS is initialized, the external device may be initialized in the system BIOS. The system may then boot in the BIOS post through the HBA interface to update iSCSI Boot Firmware Table (IBFT). Finally, the system may boot through media or through the Logic Unit Number (LUN), which is a logical number to identify the iSCSI disk. Typically, the data required to access the iSCSI LUN is available early in the process, but does not get processed until the boot at the BIOS post. Unfortunately, the step of device initialization can take a substantial amount of time, for example up to a few minutes. Waiting to boot until the device initialization is completed can take more time than necessary, and presents unacceptable delays to the user.